Alberta Law Would Ban Homeschool Parents From Teaching Against Homosexuality

You think we have it back, take a look at the law in Alberta Canada. Under the new Education Act poised for implementation in Alberta, Christian schools and homeschool parents would be prohibited, as part of their academic program, from teaching children that homosexuality is sinful.

Donna McColl, a spokesperson for the province’s Education Minister, Thomas Lukaszuk, confirmed to LifeSiteNews.com: “Whatever the nature of schooling — homeschool, private school, Catholic school — we do not tolerate disrespect for differences. You can affirm the family’s ideology in your family life, you just can’t do it as part of your educational study and instruction.” New American

Section 16 of the proposed new law reiterates the existing School Act’s requirement “that schools ‘reflect the diverse nature’ of Alberta in their curriculum, but it adds that they must also ‘honour and respect’ the controversial Alberta Human Rights Act that has been used to target Christians with traditional beliefs on homosexuality.” The Education Act stipulates that, in addition to public education facilities, the term “school” includes homeschool families as well as private schools. So now they are telling you that you must accept an abnormal lifestyle, whether you like it or not. The world is sinking fast, when we are told what to think and accept.

McColl assured that Christian homeschool families could continue to teach biblical truths regarding homosexuality to their children, “as long as it’s not part of their academic program of studies and instructional materials. What they want to do about their ideology elsewhere, that’s their family business. But a fundamental nature of our society is to respect diversity.

McColl further emphasized that the government would not allow homeschool families and Christian schools to be involved in “hatemongering” with regards to homosexuality and other “alternative” lifestyles.

Kenneth Noster, a homeschooling father of six and director of the Alberta-based Wisdom Home Schooling, told LifeSiteNews that the upgraded Education Act would give the government “quite a long reach of the arm into the home.” He added that the measure’s Section 16 “essentially means that in order to run a school in the province you must be politically correct or you could risk being shut down.” New American

The Human Rights Act in Alberta has already been used to target others who have crossed the “diversity” threshold. In 2005, Catholic Bishop Fred Henry of Calgary was brought before a tribunal after sending a letter to his diocese faithful reinforcing the Church’s teaching against homosexuality. And in 2008 the Rev. Stephen Boissoin, a pastor in the community of Red Deer, was convicted of spewing “hate” after he wrote a letter to a local paper critical of homosexuality.

Meanwhile, a U.S.-based homeschool advocacy group, the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), said this new law in Alberta will be the first of its kind attempt by a government to control what families teach in the area of values and beliefs in their own home. Allowing the government to exert this kind of power and influence could be very restrictive and permit extremely intrusive invasions of family privacy.

HSLDA noted that Alberta has more regulations governing homeschoolers than most other provinces, with extensive monitoring of homeschool families that includes two evaluations each year by local school officials.

But we in America have to remember, such tactics may not be that far down the road here, as Joel McDurmon of American Vision pointed out that ideas similar to those now poised for implementation in Alberta are being recommended by such national “authorities” as Tufts University professor — and leading atheist spokesman — Daniel C. Dennett, who has declared that America “should have a national curriculum on world religions that is compulsory for all school children, from grade school through high school, for the public schools, for the private schools, for the home-schooling.…” New American

McDurmon further states, Dennett has declared that “toxic” religions such as Christianity “survive by the enforced ignorance of their young.” He recommends that education bureaucrats give faith-motivated parents this directive: “You can home-school your kids, you can give them 30 hours a week of religious instruction, but you’ve also got to teach them what the people that are not of your faith believe, and you have to teach them about the history of all faiths in question, including your own.” New American

Christian and pro-family leaders such as McDurmon warn that, as in Canada, such an educational and cultural philosophy is gaining momentum in America, and it will be just a matter of time before homeschool parents find themselves in a fight for their right to instill healthy values in their own children.